‘Secure Communities’ immigration program arrives in Massachusetts

Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis called for Massachusetts to join Secure Communities last year. Ken McGagh/WickedLocal.com

Like it or not, the federal government’s Secure Communities immigration enforcement program officially kicked off in Massachusetts on Tuesday. Until now, the state had the option of participating in the program. Today, it’s mandatory.

Bay State police already share names and fingerprints of everyone they arrest with the FBI. Under Secure Communities, police will start sharing the same information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If ICE finds a match in its database, the agency decides whether to ask police to hold the person and send a federal agent to pick them up.

The agency said it removed 142,090 people from the U.S. through the program from October 2008 to September 2011. More than a quarter had serious criminal convictions, and about a fifth were either fugitives wanted by ICE or had been previously removed or ordered to leave the U.S., according to agency stats.

A recent Secure Communities audit by the federal inspector general said overall, the program has been successful in better identifying criminal aliens at little or no cost to local police departments.

But critics say the program fails to meet its own goals and sows mistrust among immigrants. The American Civil Liberties Union said as of Oct. 2011, more than a quarter of those removed from the U.S. had no criminal conviction. Another 31 percent had been convicted only of misdemeanors.

A Berkeley Law School report found the program may encourage racial profiling. Latinos represent 93 percent of people arrested via Secure Communities, but only 77 percent of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., the study said.

The program has proven divisive in Massachusetts. Gov. Deval Patrick resisted earlier calls to join the program, and immigrant advocates and civil liberties groups have opposed it. Republican sheriffs and Sen. Scott Brown argued for the state to join the program far sooner.

Here’s a roundup of Bay State views of the program, reported in our newspapers:

It protects the lawful citizens of our country. It’s fortunate for us that the federal government is listening.

It is not a license to start rounding up people based on what they look like. A relationship with immigrant communities is actually important for solving crimes. So putting people in wholesale fear is actually counterproductive.

It is unacceptable that there are people in the country illegally who are also committing serious crimes and threatening public safety. It’s time we applied some common sense before more people are hurt or killed.

It’s not a surprise. It was always going to be rolled out. What shouldn’t have been rolled out and what I refused to do is to use it as an opportunity to gin up unnecessary fear in communities whose cooperation with law enforcement is important to public safety.

Cameron Carpenter holds forth boldly on many issues. The 33-year-old organist, who comes to Sanders Theatre March 5 as part of the Celebrity Series, aggressively proselytizes for his electronic instru […]